Look for Honest Economic Reporting to Begin Again

2017 will prove to be a very interesting year. Oh sure, Trump’s first 100 days will be chock full of excitement, controversy, and consternation. But we should also look forward to, or be prepared for, reports from the left on a whole host of issues that have gone unreported or misreported for eight long years.

All of the sudden, we should begin to see some honest reporting, now that they will no longer need to shield the public from the folly which has been the Obama presidency and the Obama economy.

Isn’t it funny that Janet Yellen and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) have decided now to begin raising interest rates. In the eight years of the booming Obama economic recovery, this is only the second interest hike. The first was a year ago, almost to the day, and that was the first since 2006. And one could easily argue that this last hike of 0.25% is barely on Obama’s watch, as it will have no effect on his presidency.

But they had no where else to go but up. Not that I’m a fan of rate hikes, but prior to last years pitiful 0.25% hike, the Fed’s interest rate had been at 0.0% for the previous seven years, when the FOMC knocked it down to zero in December 2008.

The Fiscal Times described the hike as fully expected, but added, “What wasn’t expected: the Fed's increase in 2017 rate hike expectations to three quarter-point hikes vs. the two quarter-point hikes that were projected in September,” in an article entitled, “How the Fed’s Hawkishness Puts the Trump Rally at Risk.”

Wow – that’s weird. It’s almost as if the Fed was holding off on hikes until the Obama exit. Huh.

The Fiscal Times writes that this new aggressive posture from Yellen “represents a massive sea change for a Fed that has, at every turn, used a multitude of excuses to drag its feet on policy normalization over the last seven years.” Again – weird.

For years, Yellen has repeated that, although the economy is improving, the Fed would not raise rates, for fear on putting undo pressure on said recovering economy – which we all know has not recovered.

Other issues which will surely and gleefully be brought to light, now that it will be safe to do so, are the national debt and employment, or lack of.

Not a week after the November election, Janet Yellen warned about the fiscal implications of Trump's proposals, including the probable swelling of the national debt. I’ll give you a second to get back in your seat, as, like me, you laughed so hard at the chutzpah of Yellen that you fell out of it.

The Politico wrote that Trump’s tax proposals “would add a staggering $10 trillion to the debt.” Not that it may or could, but that it absolutely will. And not a single mention of the $10 trillion Obama actually did add. The Politico’s clairvoyance must allow them to see only the future, but not the past.

Finally, there’s the elephant in the room that everyone on the left has been avoiding for all these many years – the wildly inaccurate unemployment rate vs. the amount of people truly unemployed or under-employed. The press and all leftists have stuck to the same tired script of touting the low unemployment rate, which recently shrunk to 4.6 percent, the lowest since August 2007.

Yet, all of the sudden, CNBC is reporting that this number may be deceiving. Really – you think? As Bruce Willis famously said in Die Hard – “Welcome to the party pal!”

Now that they no longer have to shield Obama, CNBC can report honestly that 95.06 million are no longer in the labor force. That is 30 percent of America’s workforce! As if the shackles have come off, they also report that “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or Food Stamps) recipients totaled 33.5 million in 2009, the year the recession ended. In 2016, the number is at 45.3 million. The government shelled out $74 billion in benefits last year, about double the level of 2008.”

Where has this kind of reporting been for eight years? That was rhetorical. We know where it has been. It’s been cut from stories and tossed on the editing room floor. But now it’s different. The Democrat is out and the Republican will soon be in.

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About the AuthorThe Common Constitutionalist

Brent, aka The Common Constitutionalist, is a Constitutional Conservative, and advocates for first principles, founders original intent and enemy of progressives. As well as publisher of the Common Constitutional blog, he also is a contributing writer for Political Outcast, Godfather Politics, Minute Men News (Liberty Alliance) and Free Republic

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